Insidious: (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 1) Read online

  “This is so stupid,” muttered Kelsey, looking at the house just down the way.

  “What? You lose your nerve?” challenged Eric.

  She sighed, knowing it was too late to change her mind. “No, let’s just get this over with.”

  “Guys, lighten up. This is gonna be fun,” said Mark, handing each of us a black garbage bag from the trunk. “Okay?”

  “This is also Principal Harris’s place,” corrected Kelsey. “If he catches us, we’re gonna end up more screwed than a cork.

  “Get out,” laughed Mark, pushing her out of the backseat as everybody started unloading from the vehicle.

  Eric motioned to the house with tactical hand signals like we were all on a military field operation. The six of us couldn’t help but giggle under our breaths as we skulked up to Harris’s front lawn. Between the amusement and the fact that Mark had lit up in the van, he lost his footing and rolled across the grass in a laughing fit.

  “Idiot.” Eric pulled him back up to his feet with a snicker as we approached the massive maple tree in the middle of Harris’s front yard. “Go,” he mouthed.

  We all opened our garbage bags and pulled out a roll of toilet paper. Mark was the first to throw his. It flew through a mess of branches overhead, but it tumbled back down to the ground still intact.

  “Seriously?” snorted Daniel. “You’re supposed to unwrap it first, you goof.”

  Vanessa and I doubled over with stitches as we tried not to burst out laughing.

  Eric and Daniel unwound each of their rolls a few feet and heaved the toilet paper over the top of the tree. Tangling in the branches, the rolls winded back down with two perfect white lines dangling above us. “That’s how it’s done.”

  Everyone else followed in suit and unraveled the rolls. In no time at all, the entire tree was dripping in streams of toilet paper. The guys continued in their vandalism as they chucked the last of their stash over the front of Harris’s house.

  Euphoria set in as the fear and excitement of it all burned through our veins. We danced across the yard, waving our hands through the flood of Charmin and Angel Soft. I pulled out my phone and took a shot of the scenery for our proof as the other girls ran around Mark. He held the ends of their rolls so that they could wrap him up mummy-style. He did his best Hulk impression as they finished up and burst through the paper with an animated roar.

  A light turned on from one of the upstairs windows, and we crashed to a halt. Just as the curtains pulled back, Eric shouted, “Abort! Abort!”

  We all grabbed our bags and dashed in hysterics off the property. Everyone piled back into the van, and Eric tore off down the street. As Eric took a turn off onto another road, everybody let out a massive sigh. Suddenly, the whole van broke out into a laughing fit.

  “Good work, team!” declared Eric, drumming his hands on the steering wheel.

  Mark rolled down the window and stuck his head out, howling into the night air.

  “I can’t believe we just did that,” I sighed as Vanessa and Carly wrapped their arms around me, ensnaring me in a sandwich hug between them.

  “You get a decent snapshot, Montgomery?” asked Daniel from the front passenger’s seat.

  I pulled up the photo in question and handed over my phone to him.

  “Perfect, baby girl!”

  Eric cursed under his breath, and everyone in the van looked up front to see steam emanating from the hood.

  “Relax,” Eric assured as Vanessa and Carly began panicking. “It’s just overheating.”

  Thankfully, there was a gas station at the end of the block and we pulled right in. Eric cut the engine, and the guys climbed out to assess the situation.

  “Unless you want second degree burns, don’t touch the cap yet,” warned Daniel, slapping Mark’s hand away from the radiator. “It’s gotta cool off first.”

  “Doesn’t look like there’s a leak in the cooling system. It’s probably just low on coolant,” said Eric. “Not a surprise. The guy I rented it from didn’t exactly look like he was rolling in the Benjamins. Lucky he even had gas in the tank.”

  “Why didn’t we just take your Escalade?” moaned Kelsey.

  “I’m sorry, did you just miss what we did back there?” laughed Mark. “With the way the neighborhood watch is around here, someone was bound to see the van. If we pulled up to Harris’s place in the Cady, we may as well have just left some Polaroids of ourselves on his doorstep.”

  We waited awhile until the car cooled off, and the guys confirmed it. The van was low on coolant.

  Eric ran inside the gas station to pick up some, and the rest of us continued moseying around the van in boredom.

  “Come on,” Kelsey whined impatiently.

  “Pop a Valium,” said Mark, watching her pace about. “We’ll get to the bonfire soon enough.”

  “Yeah, but Zack’s already there, not to mention Tiffany,” she moaned.

  “I don’t get why you date Zack,” said Carly. “The guy’s an experiment in Artificial Stupidity, and his eyes wander more than someone with strabismus.”

  “Strabismus?” laughed Mark. “You become a doctor all of the sudden?”

  “Well, she did give me a pretty thorough body exam last night,” cracked Daniel, immediately receiving a backhand to the chest from his girlfriend.

  The theme from Dracula blasted in the air, causing everyone to jump.

  “Cheese and rice!” bellowed Carly. “You really need to change your ringtone. That is so creepy.”

  “Sorry,” I laughed, pulling out my phone to read the new text.

  Carly eyed me curiously. Snatching my phone clean from my grasp, she stole a look at the screen and gasped. “Oooooh, look at what we have here.”

  “Car, don’t be nosy,” said Vanessa.

  “What? I can’t help it. I think it’s cute she has an admirer.”

  “That’s hardly a newsflash,” laughed Mark.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about Adam.”

  Everyone paused in curiosity.

  “Oh?” Vanessa, who never minded in gossip, even seemed intrigued by the development.

  “It’s-”

  “Don’t,” I warned.

  Carly sucked in a breath. “Blaine,” she mouthed wickedly, receiving an immediate backhand to the forearm from me.

  “Holy crap!” spat Eric. “Blaine Ryder? You gonna be hooking up with him tonight?”

  I groaned. “It’s nothing serious. Honest.”

  “This is still gonna break Adam’s heart,” Vanessa pouted. “You two were so cute together. Childhood best friends, separated from each other for years, only to be reunited and become lovers. It was so romantic.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s all the more proof that Nicholas Sparks didn’t write the story of my life,” I grumbled, unable to hide my hurt. “If he had, I still wouldn’t want to put a fist-sized hole through Adam’s face.”

  Vanessa merely sighed. “I still think you’re moving on rather quickly. And with the resident Golden Boy no less. You little heartbreaker, you.”

  Carly shot her a glare. “V, will you knock it off? She had to move on eventually.”

  “I’m still surprised Kat stayed with him as long as she did,” commented Daniel. “Let’s face it. The guy was flakier than a Pillsbury biscuit. He deserved what he got when she dumped his ass.”

  “And that’s precisely why she needs to move on,” said Carly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Kat deserves only the best.”

  “Thanks,” I finally laughed.

  Tires squealed as a souped-up Dodge Challenger roared into the lot. The car did a quick 180 and pulled up right in front of the first available pump.

  The guys couldn’t help but admire the quality driving, not to mention the beautiful wheels.

  “Hot damn,” muttered Mark.

  “You got that right,” confirmed Carly, outright gawking at the striking driver as he exited the vehicle. “On a scale of one to ten, that boy’s an eleven.”
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br />   “I’m right here, you know,” scoffed Daniel.

  “Oh, lighten up, babe. You know you’re my sirloin steak. I’m not ordering anything else off the menu.” She batted her eyes innocently before a wicked grin broke through. “But…that doesn’t mean I can’t peruse the dessert selection every now and again.”

  Standing at a cut and athletic six feet, the stranger’s physique could barely be contained in his wife beater shirt and workout shorts.

  “The guy’s gotta be freezing,” said Vanessa, watching her breath vaporize in the cold. “How could you be out in this weather without a jacket?”

  “I’m not complaining.” Carly outright swooned as a lock of hair escaped from behind the stranger’s ear, falling onto his chiseled cheekbone. Daniel eyed her with obvious annoyance.

  “Car, didn’t you say you were hungry?” I asked, clearing my throat loud enough to catch her attention.

  “Uh-huh,” she sighed, not bothering to take her eyes off the guy. Her obliviousness to Daniel’s irritation was downright epic.

  “Why don’t you go inside and grab something? A bag of chips. Maybe a candy bar. Or something…anything,” I remarked, now nudging her.

  She blindly dug around in her purse, pulling out a wad of crumpled bills, and handed it over. “Surprise me.”

  I stole a glance back at Daniel who just shook his head. “Sorry, man, did my best.”

  He forced a small smile. “Valiant effort.”

  I took the wrinkled cash and flattened it out the best I could before heading inside the gas station. Scanning over the assortment of snacks, I grabbed a couple bags of potato chips and decided on getting a Snickers bar for myself. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have something edible on hand, given that bonfires were more notorious for having liquid refreshments than actual food. The bell above the entryway rang as I made my way up to the register, and the pleasant mixture of honey and musk engulfed me, masking the noxious smell of ammonia from the recently applied floor cleaner.

  Curiosity got the better of me as I looked over my shoulder, only to find the last human being I ever wanted to see heading towards the back of the store. That familiar, damned knot formed in my stomach, as it always did anytime Reese Blackburn was near. I rocked back and forth on my heels, trying my best to keep my patience in check as the old guy in front of me continued buying virtually every lottery ticket available.

  Come on, come on, come on. I needed to get out of here. PRONTO.

  Footsteps started making their way to the counter from the back of the store, and I immediately deflated, knowing a confrontation was now inevitable.

  “Montgomery,” spoke a silvery voice directly behind me.

  I regrettably turned to face the ass-hat in question, giving him my best artificial, Pan Am smile. “Blackburn.”

  The guy always looked like he’d just waltzed off the set of a Tim Burton movie, and tonight was no different. He was dressed in his typically peculiar attire, sporting a gothic knee-length horseman’s jacket laced in chains, a pair of black slacks, a silk tapestry vest, and dark brogue boots adorned with skulls on the metallic buckles.

  “Never thought I’d see you south of Providence Street,” he remarked in the sarcastic fashion he always saved for me. “Get lost on your way to the country club?”

  “No, I was actually out looking for your heart. Should’ve known better that it’s long gone,” I retorted. “And what about you? Never thought I’d see you out in public on a full moon. Get lost on your way to your cult meeting in the woods?”

  “That’s later in the evening,” he chuckled, flashing me that dimpled smile and perfect set of pearly whites. Such infectious, boyish charm seemed misplaced, considering he was stab-worthy. It really was a shame, because Reese wasn’t half bad looking.

  And by ‘half’, I mean not entirely.

  Sure, he had cheekbones that could cut glass, not to mention bedroom eyes so amber they looked to be stowing flames inside them, but still…

  Okay, okay. Even I had to admit, Blackburn was hardly an eyesore.

  Even with my heeled boots, I still stood a good half foot shorter than him, but his lean frame thankfully made him less imposing.

  The old guy in front of me started ordering cigarettes as well, causing my fisted fingernails to start biting into my palms. Knowing how quickly our conversations always descended into verbal smack downs, I grasped at anything I could think of to divert us back to small talk until I could move to the register.

  “Did you go to the game earlier?”

  Reese shrugged. “I considered it, but then I started thinking of other excruciating things I’d rather do, like have a root canal, and I decided to pass.”

  “You heading to the bonfire?” I tried again. He merely cocked a brow, and I realized how ridiculous I sounded. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t do anything fun. How could I forget?”

  “If you call watching a bunch of drunken idiots gyrate around and trash a field while you suffocate from smoke inhalation ‘fun,’ then yes—I don’t like fun.”

  “It wouldn’t kill you to be normal, ya’ know.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Haven’t tried it.”

  “So, Mr. High and Mighty, what superior plans do you have this evening?”

  “Test my alcohol limits, take off my clothes, and harass innocent bystanders.” He thumped the side of his head. “Oh, wait a minute. No, that’s your friends.”

  “At least I have some.”

  He stole a look outside and leered. “With friends like that, I consider myself grateful that I don’t.”

  “Bite me.”

  “I probably shouldn’t. Wouldn’t want to get rabies.”

  “I beg to differ. Foaming at the mouth would probably be an improvement for you. Anything to get you to stop talking.”

  He smirked. “Touché, Princess.”

  My jaw impulsively clenched. How silly of me to think I could get through a conversation without him calling me that. I obviously did a horrible job at hiding my distain for the moniker, because he halfheartedly tried to bury his laugh, causing the front strands of his long, razor-cut coffee-brown locks to fall into his eyes as he looked down. And to think, I thought he was cute…once upon a time.

  I still couldn’t figure out what the hell his problem was. The two of us met not long after I moved to town last June. I thought things had gone well, but I was obviously wrong, seeing as how anytime I saw him after that, he treated me more and more like a festering fungus. He actively went out of his way to avoid me—as in literally fleeing in the other direction—anytime I was with Carly and the others. So I took the hint and made an effort to keep my distance.

  That cruel bitch otherwise known as Fate seemed to have other plans, as Reese and I were forced into becoming science partners for Physics come senior year. Then to add insult to injury, I joined the school paper, unbeknownst to me at the time that Reese was Belleview High’s chief photographer, not to mention a fellow journalist. He didn’t go out of his way to talk to anyone at school, and he seemed to prefer it that way. Except when it came to me, apparently. Nowadays, Reese never got tired of throwing shade at me for some inexplicable reason. The guy seemed incapable of having a civil exchange.

  Oh, lucky me…

  The bell above the doorway rang again. “So we’re good for tonight?” said Daniel.

  I looked over to see his cell pressed against his ear just as the customer in front of me finished paying.

  “Yeah, we’ll see you at the bonfire,” Daniel finished, lowering the phone as the call ended. He waved over at me. “Gotta get rollin’, Kat. The van’s cooled off, and Kelsey’s about to blow a gasket of her own if we don’t get a move on.”

  “I’ll be there in a sec.” I handed over Carly’s crinkled money to the cashier, and the guy behind the counter laxly gathered my change. “Never the pleasure seeing you,” I remarked, turning to face Reese. All the color had suddenly drained from his face, and he even took a half step back as he returned my stare.<
br />
  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Kat, can you hurry it up?” called out Kelsey impatiently from outside the opened doorway. The girl seriously looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel, even from this distance.

  “You heard the girl,” laughed Daniel, beckoning me to follow him.

  Reese still stood there, looking back at me like I had spontaneously turned into a flesh eating zombie. When he didn’t respond, I self-consciously skulked away, muttering a quiet ‘bye’ under my breath before gathering my purchased items.

  “What’s his deal?” whispered Daniel as I met him at the door.

  “Hell if I know.”

  We headed back out to the van, and I caught sight of Reese’s old beater truck parked a few spaces down from us. The thing had more rust on it than it did paint.

  Carly waved her hands enthusiastically at the sight of the chips in my hands. “I’m open!”

  I jokingly imitated a fake out before throwing one of the bags to her like it was a football.

  She caught it, whaling out an animated, “Touchdown!”

  “Goofball,” I laughed, suddenly feeling fingers wrap around my upper arm. The contact caused me to whirl around, and I was met with amber eyes again. Reese’s grip wasn’t hard by any means, and he immediately let go as I faced him.

  “Hey.” The natural bravado in his voice had been undoubtedly replaced with quiet discomfort.

  “…Hey.”

  “I don’t want this to sound weird, but…you want a ride?”

  Of all things, I actually laughed. “What?”

  “Sorry, it’s just…that doesn’t exactly look too safe,” he remarked, nodding over to the van that gurgled unnaturally as Eric turned over the engine.

  “I thought you of all people would be thrilled to see me locked in a high-speed deathtrap.”

  He didn’t laugh.

  “Thanks for the offer,” I politely amended. “But my mom taught me to not accept rides from strangers. And I don’t really know you all that well, so...”

  Unrest stirred behind his eyes as he closed the distance between us in one swift, unnatural motion. “Please, don’t get in the van,” he whispered.

  “Excuse me?” I tried backing up, but his hands gripped my arms again, this time with a much firmer hold.